deceptive political ads

We all get dozens, if not hundreds of “voter guides” mailed to us every election cycle. Some are useful, some not, some honest and some are misleading, but I don’t know that I have ever seen one as blatantly dishonest as this one from Cops Voter Guide. It was originally brought to my attention by the Facebook page “Overturn Prop 47” when they shared a picture of the voter guide and mentioned that it was deceptive. After doing some quick digging, I determined that deceptive is a huge understatement in my opinion.

Absolutely no one at Cops Voter Guide is a cop, or works with cops, or even with “public safety” as they stated. The Cops Voter Guide website only lists the name of one person, Kelly Moran, the director. According to Mr. Moran’s LinkedIn profile, he has never been a cop, and the closest he has come to “over 20 years of working with public safety” was during a three (3) year stint with Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) in the late 1990’s as a “Political Action Coordinator.” He left there in 1997 and shortly thereafter opened his own political consulting firm, Moran & Associates, where he has worked ever since. He has never worked in law enforcement or public safety, and as best as I can tell, his only work history consists of political consulting and marketing.

Following the link on Moran’s LinkedIn profile to the business Cops Voter Guide reveals only one other employee, a woman named Holly Jones. According to her LinkedIn profile, her primary employer is Barry Wyatt Associates, another political and marketing firm, where she is listed as Director of Operations. She is also listed as the Marketing Director for Cops Voter Guide. Her work history includes working for a property management company and as a marketing and political consultant, and she has a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Absolutely nothing remotely law enforcement or public safety related.

To the best of my knowledge, from what I was able to glean via the internet, those are the two people who make up Cops Voter Guide. If you still have some lingering doubts about the legitimacy of Cops Voter Guide, please note their street address that is listed on their public website. Next please note the address of Moran & Associates, as published on their public website. Coincidentally, they are the same address, with only the suite number being different.

So, just in case you still do not believe that these folks are not actually representing the views of cops, as the name of their organization very clearly wants you to believe, let us examine a few of the topics they are offering recommendations on, and we will see if actual members of law enforcement and public safety agree. Since their website makes suggestions based on zip codes, I used the zip code for their office address as a sample (95630). The following screen shot shows some of their recommendations for residents of that zip code.

As a cop, I strongly disagree, and I am not alone. Here is a partial list of the ACTUAL law enforcement organizations, district attorneys, police chiefs and sheriffs who oppose it (see attached photo). A complete list that includes other organizations opposed to Prop 57 can be found here.

Running against Bera is Sacramento County Sheriff, Scott Jones (R). Jones has received endorsements from a very long list of actual law enforcement and public safety organizations, as well as many heads from various law enforcement and public safety agencies.

4th Supervisorial District – SacramentoCops Voter Guide recommends Sue Frost. A check of Frost’s website lists endorsements from no police or sheriffs, no associations representing them or their employees, no district attorneys or DA organizations, but it does however show two probation organizations that are endorsing her.

Now, I realize that I am a jaded career cop, but it would seem odd to me that for an organization named Cops Voter Guide, they seem to be recommending many things that actual cops are completely opposed to.

One does not have to look back very far in history to find an era when it was not an easy feat to try and verify the legitimacy of organizations that sent out political fliers and voting guides. For the average voter, it was a task that was next to impossible. Twenty years ago, it would involve multiple trips to libraries, phone calls and on-site visits to the actual entities, but folks, this is the information age. Most of us have access to nearly infinite information all available at the tips of our fingers via our cell phones. It took me all of three (3) minutes to figure out that Cops Voter Guide has absolutely nothing to do with cops, and not even to the much broader “public safety” umbrella that their name leads one to believe they represent. As best as I can tell, Cops Voter Guide is nothing more than a political marketing company.

What I can say without a doubt is that some of their recommendations are most certainly not in agreement with actual cops and public safety organizations out there. In fact, many of Cops Voter Guide’s recommendations are exactly the opposite of the group their name insinuates they represent. I am not remotely trying to tell you how to vote, but what I am saying is be careful about where you get your information on which you base your votes. Please, don’t be a lazy voter. Your vote is important, make it an educated one.